The key word was not "bigot" but rather, "that woman." The real problem was not contained in his words, but in his tone of voice. He uttered his complaint in a way which can be best, most accurately characterized as, how-dare-that-peasant-question-me! By his tone, by the wordview made manifest in it, Mr Brown showed the key defining characteristic of a member in good standing of the hoi oligoi, the Elite.
It is most important to understand that the tone--and the worldview--characterizes all members of that monstrous regiment, the Elite, regardless of the details of political orientation. Left and Right, these self-appointed, anointed by none but each other, the folks of the hoi oligoi feel nothing but fear, loathing, and contempt for the rest of us, the hoi polloi, the (to revert for a moment to that hoary phrase of the Communists) "toiling masses," the common man and woman.
Whether pundits, politicians, preachers, professors, business "leaders," or professional "experts," whether people of the political Left or the Right, all these individuals are united by a belief in their own competence to run the lives of others. They share another commonality: All are convinced that those of us who are not by virtue of birth, position, education (defined as the ability to jump successfully though the artificial hoops of academic "excellence") or the specious metrics of financial success or occupation of a corner office are of the lower orders, in need of guidance, supervision, or even outright custody by our "betters."
To put affairs bluntly: A person enlists in the Elite by thinking that he or she has the ability to tell others how best to run their lives. There may be no rational basis for this, but it is quite comforting to think that one is superior to the vast array of lesser sorts cluttering the human landscape.
As soon as a person comes to hold this most false of hallucinatory gods that person commences a life which is predicated by a constant fear of the masses of peasants. Since fear is unpleasant to experience, particularly as a constant feature, the emotion is covered by a mask of loathing, contempt.
Mr Brown probably believed in all honesty that the grandmotherly sort, Mrs Duffy, really is a "bigot." Who but a "bigot"could question the PM about current and proposed British immigration policy? That is obvious--at least in the World According To Brown. Only a "bigot" who was motivated solely by racist hatred of Africans, East Indians, and Pakistanis.
In addition to the Brown-presumed sin of "bigotry," Mrs Duffy had committed a far greater transgression. She had questioned the Labor Party leader,the PM, a certified member of the Elite. Next thing, Ms Duffy and her neighbors amongst the peasantry would be exhibiting mass unrest, coming after Mr Brown and others of his Elite ilk with pitchforks and torches.
That cannot be allowed!
The fear, contempt, loathing showed by Mr Brown have also been all too evident in the rantings of assorted members of the American Elite about the uppity peasants of the Tea Party movement, the racist xenophobes of the Arizona state legislature, and others who cling to their guns and Bibles. Those many,many commentators who rail against the self-organizing groups collected under the Tea Party banner are simply showing the global anxiety which must be felt at the thought that the peasants have found their pitchforks, torches--and voices.
That cannot be allowed!
The current patron saint (female division) of the Tea Party (and others of the peasant persuasion,) Sarah Palin is universally vilified by the people and instruments of the hoi oligoi simply because she is "not the right sort, don't you know." She did not go to the "right" school(s); she does not hold appropriately "upscale" attitudes; she doesn't act in ways, or use the vocabulary approved by the domestic Elite. She is dangerous--a potential icon for the classic David painting, Liberty Leading the People.
That cannot be allowed!
The assorted denizens of the Christian Right who wish so fervently and work so diligently to conscript the State as the enforcement agent of their vision of moral correctness are no different in having proclaimed their sole ability to tell all of us how to live our lives. They are no different in fearing the "peasants" and covering their fear with loathing and contempt. They are convinced that without the firm, stern hand of their (state imposed and enforced) moral views, the peasants will cheerfully go to hell in a bucket.
That cannot be allowed!
United in fear, united in feeling both contempt for and loathing of the hoi polloi, always contending (and believing) that they are acting for the greater good of those of us who are trapped in the vast swamp of peasantry, the Elite seek to limit, control, diminish, marginalize and make permanent dependents each and every one of us. To question the purity of the Elite's motives, to doubt the brilliance and correctness of their decisions and actions is an act of extreme insubordination.
That cannot be allowed!
Sit down, keep quiet, bow your head to our wisdom, thank us for our generosity, stand in awe of all we are doing for you. That is proper peasant behavior, a proper peasant way to understand life. A proper peasant way to show one knows one's place.
When Mrs Duffy asked her questions, she did not act in the approved manner of subordination, submission. Mr Brown simply responded, when he thought it was safe, in the proper way of an insulted, threatened ME (Member of the Elite.) Other MEs would have done the same--and have.
That should not be allowed!
